Blogging Tip: Quality Over Quantity

I think one of the most common questions that I get asked is, “Do you have any blogging tips?” The truth is I have a lot of them because after doing this for 5 years, I have learned so much. I’ve made mistakes, experimented with different ideas and grew a lot through trial and error. Since I already have a TIPS section on here that I have been trying to expand, I thought it would be a good idea to touch on a few of those blogging tips every so often. Here’s the first one. Let’s get into it!

The concept of quality over quantity is not a new one, but it’s extremely important in this industry. The problem though is that when it comes to blogging it seems to always be
number driven. How many monthly views do you get on your blog? How many followers do you have on social media? How many times do you post a week? This is such an easy way to get discouraged, especially if those numbers are on the lower side or if you are just starting out. I’ll be the first to admit that for a long time, I focused too much on quantity. I put so much energy into posting every single day and doing all I could to grow a following on my social media channels. I got too caught up in the numbers and lost sight of what was really important.

Here is the problem that I ran into.

When it comes to posting on the blog, consistency is definitely important. You want to have a constant presence online, but do not post JUST to post. If you are going to create
something, make sure there’s substance. Make sure that you actually have something
important to say and to share. I found myself posting just to post so that I would have
content up for the day. This was back when my focus was only on fashion, so outfits
Monday-Friday definitely got redundant. This actually made me feel uninspired and I was wearing myself thin with so many shoots a week. I found that the more I posted, the lower my engagement became. It was just this over abundance of content that seemed to be the same thing over and over. Once I figured all of this out and started to post a little bit less with more to actually say, my engagement got better. If you’ve noticed I tend to post 3-4 times a week now instead of 5. I do my best to have a variety of topics each time so that I am mixing a little bit of style with lifestyle, tips, travel, life chats, etc. I love sharing my opinions and personal experiences, but I also want to make sure that my readers can come here and learn something new. So now I ask myself, “Is there a clear takeaway? Is it useful in some way?” This mentality forces me to dig deeper and get more creative with each topic. Now I am not saying that there is anything wrong with posting every day. I know a lot of people do this and that’s because it’s effective for them. If you have a lot to say and share, then by all means do it! But, if you are running low on content one week or feel uninspired or honestly don’t have much to talk about, then that is OK. Don’t force it. I have promised myself that I will only post Mon-Fri if I actually have content that is worth putting on here. It took me quite some time to figure this all out, but I am happy that I did because it’s made a huge difference.

When it comes to social media, everyone is focused on growing a following. When I first got on the app back in 2011, things were completely different. There were not many bloggers on it yet and it honestly gave me the opportunity to grow a following pretty quickly. This is back when there was a popular page and hashtags were way more effective. My engagement was through the roof and the whole concept of the app was all so new to me. I got a little too caught up in it though. I saw how fast paced my growth was and the number of likes I was getting on every photo. Back then, I was averaging 2K with way less of a following and my photos were not very good. In a weird way, I got addicted to those numbers and I wanted to keep growing them. I was TOO focused on them to the point where it would stress me out if a photo didn’t perform as well as another one. Over the years, a lot started to change on Instagram. My growth slowed down and my engagement started to drop. There were WAY more bloggers on the app and it started to get harder to stand out.

And then the algorithm changed.

Ugh, the algorithm. I didn’t grow at all this year. In fact, I went backwards. My engagement took a huge hit. Way less people were seeing my photos. It was frustrating. I complained. And then I got over it.

Through all of that I learned once again that the quality of my audience was way more
important than the quantity. I would much rather have a smaller community that is
constantly engaging with me than to have a larger community with little to no engagement. I put my energy here instead. When you create content and share it, you want to get feedback. You want to have a conversation about it. You want there to be a response. If you have 100K+ on Instagram and literally no one shows interest in what you are posting, then that number is literally just a number. This is why you should NEVER buy followers! There is zero quality there. When things started to come to a halt for me with my growth, I put more time and focus on creating good quality content because just like the blog, I was too caught up in posting just to post. I started to share more of a variety so that it wasn’t only me and what I was wearing. I showed more of my life and my personality. I engaged more and interacted with as many people as I could. Instead of worrying so much about “getting more followers” I gave more attention to those who were already following along on my journey. That relationship matters to me. I wanted to build on it.

I invested in the quality and gave less attention to the quantity.

I believe that if you focus more on this, the rest will follow and fall into place. While
numbers do have importance, they are not and should not be all that matters. I think that this is such an easy way to lose yourself in the process. I used to get so stressed out about posting on social media when things were not going my way, but I’m back to a place where I seriously love getting on the app every single day. I know that I will get to interact with all of you. The same goes for here on the blog. I’ve been able to create some amazing “internet friendships” because of all of this and that means more to me than anything else.

I hope that you enjoyed this post! Let me know your thoughts on this topic and if you would like me to do more posts on different blogging tips. 🙂

aLWAYS LOVE READING ABOUT BLOGGING AND iNSTA TIPS, BECAUSE JUST LIKE ANYBODY ELSE i’M TRYING TO GROW AS A BLOGGER. i AGREE WITH EVERYTHING YOU SAY THAT GOOD CONTENT IS KEY. yES, CONSISTENCY MATTERS BUT IF YOU END UP POSTING TOO MUCH, THERE’S NO WAY YOUR READERS WILL CATCH UP WITH YOU! tHAT’S BECAUSE WE FOLLOW SO MANY PEOPLE THESE DAYS… aNYWAY, LOVED READING YOUR POST. kEEP THEM TIPS COMING!

p.s. eVER THOUGHT OF VISITING nAPA vALLEY?! wOULD LOVE TO MEET YOU/SHOW YOU AROUND (AKA FREE WINE TASTING) WHEN YOU COME!

Thanks for your feedback babe! It’s so true that we are following so many people and it’s overwhelming to constantly keep it up with everyone. That’s why I think it’s so important to focus on content that can really speak to your audience. I have never been to Napa but would LOVE to go and of course would HAVE to meet you and hang out! Free wine tasting is like music to my ears lol. <3

I failed hardcore at blogging the first time around because I felt it was necessary to keep pushing content three times a week and I ended up scramblin for content and becoming unfocused. This time around I have made the conscious choice to only post once per week for at least the first six months so that I build up quality posts and a dedicated community.

Thanks for sharing Amanda! I totally scrambled for constant ideas and sometimes I still do. I think it’s great to implement a system that works well for you. I wish you the best of luck this time around. I’ll have to check out your blog! 🙂

This post came in handy! Thanks for posting. As bloggers we can get caught up in the numbers & our following. As someone whose still realtively new in the blogging world, i enjoyed this.http://www.thattrendyfellow.com

VEry well said and written. I am so proud of you and the way you have grown. It has been an amazing experience to see how far you have come since you started blogging. You hit the nail on the head “quality is better than quantity.” And less is more. You are so humble, truthful aNd honest in everything you do. I love what yoU do, who you are and what you’ve beCome. May GoD continue to bless you with many more successful blogging yEars.

Amazing! I think this is happening with SO many fashion blogs. I still love to see your style, but through your journey I have realized how smart and down to earth you are, and to me that’s FAR more valuable than any perfectly styled outfit.